According to the AAP, to reduce the risk of SIDS, parents should share a room with their baby for the first year. But, should you really share a room with your baby that long? Sharing a room with your baby certainly has its advantages. Let's review: Advantages of Sharing a Room With Your Baby Safety As I mentioned, it is considered safest to share a room with your baby, because it reduces the risk of SIDS. It enables you to act quickly if something is happening to your baby such as
baby sleeping
3 Things To Do When Your Baby Won’t Sleep in a Bedside Bassinet
As with many things you can buy for your newborn baby, there's no guarantee you will use all of them! A common issue that comes up often is when your newborn baby won't sleep in their brand new bedside bassinet! Some babies won't sleep in their bedside bassinet at night while other newborns won't sleep in the bedside bassinet at nap time. Or, neither. Both scenarios are very common. If you're even a little like me, you might be nervous about bed-sharing. I worried about rolling over onto
Get Baby To Sleep: 7 Sure-Fire Tips
Getting a baby to sleep can be tricky, can't it? Contrary to what many first-time parents-to-be assume, most babies do not simply fall asleep when they are tired and wake when they are rested. In fact, lots of babies go from sleepy to fussy to exhausted to overly tired to flat out screaming (sometimes, in a matter of minutes!)! There is just no "falling asleep naturally" at any point in that sequence. Similarly, not all babies wake up when they are rested and refreshed. By contrast, far more
Gentle Sleep Training Explained + 5 Strategies
We talk a lot about sleep training on this blog....A LOT. And over the years, we've come to learn that while many of our readers are generally interested in sleep training, they are specifically interested in gentle sleep training. This makes sense, if you think about it. No parent is eager to hear their child cry, and if it's possible to build healthy sleep habits in a gentle way that involves minimal fussing, many of us would greatly prefer that to the cry it out alternatives. But gentle
10 Bedtime Routine Tips: Crafting the Perfect Baby and Toddler Bedtime Routine
Bedtime routines are an essential part of healthy baby and toddler sleep habits - a very essential part! A great bedtime routine alerts your baby or toddler to the fact that bedtime is approaching; it can also serve to relax your child and help your baby or toddler fall asleep quickly and calmly. But how can you craft the perfect baby or toddler bedtime routine? We share our top tips below! 10 Bedtime Routine Tips for Babies and Toddlers Start winding down before you start the bedtime
How Tara’s Express Sleep Plan® Saved Her Sanity
Poor Tara...her little girl was sleeping through the night beautifully, right up until the moment Tara and her family moved to a new home. After that, everything fell apart. That's when Tara turned to The Baby Sleep Site®'s Express Sleep Plan® for help. Read on to find out what happened! Thanks for sharing your story with us, Tara! First, can you tell us what prompted you to purchase the Express Sleep Plan®? My little one slept thru the night up from 3 to 8 months until we
5 Reasons To Start Sleep Training TODAY
Let me be clear: when to sleep train is a personal choice that's heavily dependent on a lot of unique factors. There is no age when all parents "should" sleep train, and while there are sleep training windows that tend to be better for sleep training, and help the process move along smoothly, we always caution parents not to feel pressured to sleep coach during or by a certain time frame. That said - we hear almost daily from parents who are beyond exhausted, whose families are losing
6 Words Every Tired Mom Should Hear
Attention, tired moms everywhere (and I know about 95% of you reading this article right now are tired moms!!) - we have a message for you. We know how overwhelmed and exhausted you are. We know that you love your little one so much it practically hurts, but that you are simply drowning in sleep problems. We know that you feel desperate and alone as you try to get your baby or toddler back to sleep at night. We know you sometimes wonder if you've done something wrong, or if you've "ruined"
How Long to Cry It Out (CIO)
This topic "How long to cry it out?" has come up a few times in the last few weeks in one way or another, so I thought I'd talk about it this week. I always preface any discussion about cry it out by making sure that everyone understands that I'm not a "Cry It Out Pusher" and I'm very much NOT an extremist or a hard-core "sleep trainer". I try to be realistic and just know that all babies are different and all family structures are different and what works for one won't work for everyone. I even
